If my memory is correct, El Cajon had a stacked shot put team during that period of time. I believe Dave Hampton was his name? I think he held the county record at that time. Full beard mountain man looking in high school. Another was Brian Barrow I think. They had 4 athletes going over 55 feet at the time and if my memory serves me correctly that since only 3 could compete in a dual meet, there were some weeks Malone didn’t even make the team!

You’re right. El Cajon was loaded in the weights in 1974. Curt Hampton still ranks third all-time in San Diego County with a best of 65-11 1/4. Mark Malone was a sophomore and had the third-best distance in the County, 57-5. Bob Barrows was fourth at 57 feet, 1/2 inch, and another shot putter, last name Dereld (sp?), had a best of 52-10 1/2. Granite Hills even had three shot putters with bests from 54-4 to 56-0. Malone had a discus best of 174 feet, tops in the County, and won the CIF meet at 170-10. Malone was 11th in qualifying in the state trials at Bakersfield with 161-8. Malone didn’t qualify for state in the shot put, finishing fifth at 54-10 in the San Digo Section meet. You’re right about 3 men per event in dual meets, but Malone also ran the sprints and hurdles and triple jumped, so he probably was asked to concentrate on some events where El Cajon Valley needed points.

Surprised to not see Mark Malone from El Cajon in the mid 70’s. Then again, I played against him at Santana and never knew he was all that until years later. He was a man among boys. Shotput, discus, surprised to not even see him listed as an athlete.

It’s hard to argue against Mark Malone. We’ve received our share of just criticism, not so much for the selected players, but for the ones we left out. I think we could have picked 6 or 7 teams and still omitted quality athletes. Mark was a fine football player who went on to play quarterback 10 seasons in the NFL, including one with the Chargers. I think he was better as a track athlete, competing in several events. Mark held the County record of 192 feet, 6 inches,in the discus for 14 years, until Brian Ames of El Capitan went over 199 feet in 1990. Mark had a very disappointing state track meet at Berkeley in 1976, but he more than made up for that by virtually carrying the El Cajon Valley program for 4 years. The football team won the Grossmont League and had a 8-1 record with Malone and Le Roy Magee leading the way in 1975, the Braves’ only loss coming to Mission Bay in the playoffs. Thanks for writing.